Abstract
The experience of children who are raised in a family where a parent has Huntington's Disease (HD) is complex. The purpose of this project was to explore the resiliency of those who were raised in a family with a parent who had HD, explore the effect the gender of the child had on their resilience, and whether or not the gender of the parent who had HD impacted resilience. Using a quantitative design, 107 adults who were raised within a family with HD responded to an anonymous online survey answering questions on gender, resilience, and experiences growing up in a family affected by HD. The findings indicated that the gender of the child and the gender of the parent were significant in terms of the likelihood of the child showing resilience. The male respondents tended to have higher resiliency results than their female counterparts, although the vast majority of the respondents were female. In this study, a correlation between the age of the respondent when their parent began showing symptoms of HD and resilience was not supported. These findings highlight the significance of gender, impact of attachment with parent caregivers, and the importance in supporting the children who are being raised with a parent affected with HD.